Lenovo's Idea line will be shipping soon with BlueStacks' Android app player as one of its pre-installed programs.Photo by BlueStacks

LAS VEGAS--PC and phone maker Lenovo announced a deal today with BlueStacks, the Android app player that lets Android apps run on Windows and Mac.

Lenovo joins a growing list of hardware manufacturers looking to the Silicon Valley startup to solve the problem of getting popular Android apps onto desktops and laptops. Although anybody can download BlueStacks, Lenovo will be shipping it on its consumer-focused Idea line starting in April.

BlueStacks' appeal may be partially one of perception, where mobile apps get a lot of consumer attention because of their connection to smartphone operating systems. But it's having a larger impact than just getting Instagram or Angry Birds on your desktop.

"The whole PC ecosystem is lining up behind Google. I think it works for Microsoft better than what they're doing," said BlueStacks CEO Rosen Sharma.

"People are offering to pay $40 to $90 to use more apps. We don't plan to make the player [fee-based], but it's interesting" to see that kind of interest from people, he said.

The deal follows similar BlueStacks partnerships with manufacturers announced over the past year, including AMD and Asus, and numerous industry accolades. Among those, BlueStacks' app player won CNET's Best of CES award in the software category last year, and the new Mac version has won a CES 2013 Innovations award.